Baby Girl

Brian's email to the family right after delivery announcing the birth with her stats. Obviously I've updated her status below but wanted to include her official weight length and time.

We have a new baby girl! She was born Mar 6 at 8:28 a.m. (Mar 5 at 5:28 p.m. Utah time). She is our smallest baby at 2710 grams and 48 centimeters (5 lbs 15.8 oz and 18.9 inches). After an hour of observation she still needed help keeping her oxygen levels up so she has been transferred to the NICU to receive oxygen and additional monitoring. She is doing well and should be out in a few hours after she gets all the fluid out of her lungs.

Angie is doing well.

Pee Baby Pee!

The doctor (pediatrician) just came with an update on our little lady. She is still grunting hard for each breath. The chest X-ray shows either very, very wet lungs or immature lungs. Time will tell but no infection or pneumonia so that is the positive news. She is on antibiotics as a precaution and starts the CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) now for at least 24 maybe 48 hours. This will help her feel better by helping hold the lungs open so she doesn't have to work so hard to breath. If it is wet lung she will hopefully be able to process it out in the next 24 hours by peeing.

She's grounded to the NICU for probably at least 48 hours more before she can go to the regular nursery delaying her discharge for sure. I guess that's okay because mine is delayed too. The doctor keeps referring to my internals as "quite a jungle" and it took him a long time to repair and put me back together. I had planned to go home Friday but he says Saturday is likely the soonest he is willing to let me outta this joint.

Guess me and baby girl get to hang out together...sort of. Me on the 4th floor, her on the 3rd. Hopefully tomorrow I will be well enough to go see the baby. Then maybe it will seem more real. Sort of hard to name a baby you aren't connected to yet if that makes sense.

First Hospital Visit

Brian just arrived at the hospital with the kids to visit me. They all stared at the IV in my hand looking a little scared so we explained it simply. Maddie's next question was "Are we allowed to play games on your phone while we are here?" I think she obviously really missed me.

We asked if they want to go see the baby and they smiled. Since baby will be in NICU for one to two days until she is breathing better they can't really see much and can't go in. Brian offered to tell them the sex but Ben covered his ears. He wanted to see the baby first. Maddie was sworn to secrecy and her smile went from ear to eat when she heard she finally had a sister!!

Baby Coming Soon - Boy or Girl??

We report to the hospital at 5:30 am to prep for 8:00 am surgery. Details coming soon. We're all anxious to know if it's a boy or girl. The bets are in from our clan.

Brian - girl, because he cheated and watched the ultrasound when the doctor said to look away if we really didn't want to find out. He looked the entire time and from his own expert conclusion figured he couldn't make out any details to point otherwise. Of course, we also both concur that we wouldn't have been able to tell with Ben or Jacob either on those fuzzy ultrasound screens.

Angie - girl, because it just feels like it's gotta be a girl

Ben - girl, because keeps a pattern - boy dad, girl mom, boy ben, girl maddie, boy jacob, must be a girl this time. I'm thinking he has a touch of the Robinson obsession for fairness down to the penny and my OCD on patterns and numbers. It's in the blood.

Maddie - girl, because she needs a sister more than anything in the world. It's taken many months but we have her finally resigned to love the baby even if God does see fit to send us a boy.

Jacob - boy, it will no longer be a yittle boy fluffy doggie. That's progress. Down side is that it won't have feet or legs. We're working one step at a time here to get the right picture in his mind. Hopefully it will all be clear when they meet tomorrow night.

Kathi Neilson - ??  She's the only one on the planet that knows the surprise. Don't be mad. She begged for months for me to find out. She needed to buy something inparticular that she can only get in Singapore before ExxonMobil moved them home to Houston, Texas in December. I had the doctor write it down and seal it in an envelope and gave it to her.

Are you mad? Yeah, I thought you would be knowing that someone knew and YOU didn't. That's why we didn't tell anyone she knew until this week. Don't worry. We don't know either and today I'm thinking it's really all kinda funny. As far as I know she hasn't told a soul.

Funny story on the special baby gift though. I hid the wrapped gift, sort of. I tossed it in the office in a box of paperwork that I wasn't ever going to get around to unpacking so that I would NEVER see it and not be tempted. Well, then we hired Gina. And I've gotten lots of boxes unpacked I hadn't figured I'd ever get around to working on.

For some reason Maddie decided to rummage through the box with the gift. She came running up to me, package in hand, fingers already underneath the edge of the paper ready to rip iit open. "LOOK MOM!!! We forgot to open this one!" "NOOOOO!!!!" I yelled almost in slow motion begging her to stop pulling at the edge that was beginning to rip. "Don't you DARE open that present!" I bellowed at her.

Poor girl was so startled by my response she looked scared. I have no idea how I got out of the situation without revealing the real reason she couldn't open said present. Heaven sakes I probably lied that it was for someone else. I don't know but it worked and she didn't open it. Crisis averted. Though the devil on my left shoulder was pouting at the angel on my right shoulder and calling her a party pooper and kill joy. Half of me wished she'd ruined it so I could just KNOW.

Tomorrow we shall know.  Care to register a guess before we find out?

No Time for a Baby

I keep trying to figure out when to deliver this baby. It seems to me that the world is crowding in around me. We keep getting notices from school and scouts and church and birthday party invites and everything else that such and such is the week of the delivery date. It's making me nuts knowing I'm going to miss stuff with my kids that they really care about and want to do. Seems like there is simply no time for this baby to come. Or for me to sit out life and recover from a big surgery. I hadn't realized how much simpler life was delivering Maddie when Ben didn't have a single thing on his calendar for the next year.

Jacob came just before Christmas so I missed two Christmas parties I really wanted to go to but then the world slowed down and people left town to visit family for the holidays and school was out and we had a snow storm. Life was a good kid of dead.

Here we are facing our fourth delivery. Do I miss the school performances? Ben being awarded his cub scout wolf badge? Swim lessons we paid for and are finally seeing progress with? Ballet lessons? Pinewood derby? Ugh.

I think if I can't manage to sweet talk the doctor into going 3 days earlier than his prescribed window (March 6 +/- 4 days) to get my leap day baby then I'm going with 3/3/12. Cute in the USA. Great for an international baby from the USA. Every medical/school/government form I complete I have to double check i have the month and day correct since they are written opposite here from what I have done my whole life. 3/3. So easy. I'll have to check with Brian who has been working on picking "the most auspicious day on the Chinese calendar." He even knows the hour of day that is best according to the moon and the experts in numerology.

First Doctor Visit

What You’ll Care About:

Baby looks great. Delivery date of March 6 +/- four days depending on if I’m superstitious of different numbers. I love this country. Stuff like that cracks me up! I never would have thought of it unless the date was 666 or something like that. Two weeks early since this is c-section number four. **Funny story about 666 below.

My Ramblings of Medical Care and Family Planning Here in Singapore:

I think of myself as low key in a lot of respects (I admit that I do get high strung over the stupidest things). That, combined with my exhaustion level, not having anyone to swap babysitting with over the summer for all three kids caused me to delay calling any OBGYN to schedule the first visit. Oh yeah, and even though I have a zillion doctor referrals I had a heck of a time getting a referral from women that have had a c-section. It’s a totally different ball game than the regular method and I wanted a good surgeon.

Yesterday I called up the one I had ultimately decided to try. The two ladies who used her referred her as being a good match to my blunt and open personality. Perfect I figured. I called up and she had a five week wait to see her for first time patients. She asked how far I was in the pregnancy and wasn’t pleased when I said at least twelve weeks. She couldn’t see me the first time until I was about 17 weeks along. Even relaxed me knows that’s waiting a bit long. She referred me to another doctor and I was feeling totally defeated to be shot down after finally making a commitment when I had been procrastinating for so long.

Not having any better ideas of what to do I called Brian to see what he thought. No help there. So I called the doctor referral. They could fit me in in an hour. Umm…I don’t have a car and have to pick my kid up at school in two hours and you’re all the way downtown. They suggest tomorrow and I just say fine. Arrange a babysitter for Jacob.

Today I went down to my appointment. I knew parking at the hospital would be messy so I left twenty minutes early just in case. Most of that time got swallowed up in road construction on the PIE on the way downtown. I arrived at the hospital and missed the little access road for the parking lot. I ended up in a dead end along with twenty other delivery trucks trying to do seventeen point turns on a tiny residential street. All of a sudden I’m glad to be in a little car. Then the curb is higher than it was supposed to be and I hear CRUNCH!! Suck. I’m already late. No point in checking it. Seeing it won’t change anything now. I finish my turn and backtrack to the hospital parking lot. It’s full.

I creep back in tight traffic onto Orchard Road to attempt parking at Paragon Mall. Nope. Lot is full. Try Cairnhill Place. As I finally back into a parking spot the doctor office is calling my mobile phone to see if I’m still coming. Honestly, I’m only six minutes late by my clock and think I’m actually doing great all things considered. I tell them I’m parking and rush to the parking garage elevator and down to the street. Now where? I’m two blocks away but not sure how to get there from here. I cut through the mall and make it to the doctor about fifteen minutes late.

Sign in. New patient sheet. Pee in a cup. Blood pressure. Medical history.

Nurse: “This is your first pregnancy?”

Me: “No. Fourth.”

WIDE EYES! “Oh. Wow. You very fertile!”

Umm…thanks? What am I supposed to say to that?

“I think four could be enough. I’m getting tired.” I smile.

“You got to close that factory!!”

This lady is seriously cracking me up.

Later when she draws my blood I ask if she has children.

“Oh no! And I’m NOT planning to either. They make too much noise. I like my nieces and nephews. I play with them for a little bit and send them back to my sister. I like that much better!”

Doctor was great. Just my style too. Open and frank about what is medically going on and what my choices will be. He advises delivering two weeks early because of the uterus scarring on a person who is having the fourth c-section. He’s my new favorite person on the planet. Who doesn’t want their pregnancy cut short by two weeks and the most miserable uncomfortable weeks at that.

I ask about tubal ligation if I were to opt for that. He looks excited and supportive. Tells me frankly he recommends it for anyone who has had four surgeries. Explains risks fully of having more children in my medical case. Then tells me it’s my choice and he’ll address it a few weeks before delivery and will ask the same questions of me as anyone else and the four c-sections doesn’t mean I have to do it. In fact after he reconsiders my age he says if I was two years younger, even with four kids, he’d support not doing it quite yet. Now I know he’s my kind of doctor.

He’ll tell me my options. Not let me do anything stupid but give me my choices beyond that. That was why I loved Dr. Knudsen in Virginia.

Oh yeah. For those worried about me having a baby overseas get this. He quickly read my post-operative report and asked me specifically about a particular part of the stitching up procedure. He wants to know if I know anything about it and do they REALLY still use THAT? It’s so old they haven’t used that in years. Of course it didn’t hit me until after I left that my last doctor has been delivering for over 30 years and could have just have preferred the old stuff.

I’m going to be just fine here. Medical care is great, expensive, but great. My bill was S$ 830.15 today, about US$ 625. I brought S$ 500 cash just in case…glad I had a credit card on me!! Delivery alone estimate is S$ 13,000 if everything is easy and simple but will only go up from there. Tying my tubes is sounding like a better idea all the time. Babies are way too expensive. All three of my first cost less than US$100 each from start to finish. Thank you for great insurance plans.

***Did I write this story down already? I spent the summer between my junior and senior year working for Packard Bell Computers on the customer service line. After tech support finished trouble shooting the problem they got transferred to me. I set up home service, service center delivery service, ordered CDs to fix problems, etc. One day a poor guy had been on hold for hours, worked with tech support for hours and was convinced his computer was possessed by the devil. Seriously convinced of this. He gets transferred to me. I input all his info, name, address, machine serial number, etc. After the poor man has been on the phone call for almost four hours we are about done. The entire time he is telling me over and over that the devil is possessing the darn thing. Literally the last part of the call is giving them their problem ID number. It is something-something-something-6-6-6. As bad as he wants off the phone he demands a new number. I didn’t pick the number. It’s chronologically assigned. I CAN’T change it. He is convinced that number MUST be changed and there is nothing I can do. He remains adamant and trying not to laugh I tell him the ONLY thing he can do is to call back and start again. Then he’ll get a new number assigned. He concedes the fight, not having another four hours to waste today. He writes down the devil computer ID number and we end the call so I can laugh my head off.

The announcement...Its a tradition

Here is the announcement...

Many years ago my parents announced the coming of my little brother (the fourth child in our family) by calling the family together and giving everyone a gift. We never received gifts other than birthdays and Christmas, so we knew this was a very special occasion, and boy, were we excited. Not only were we getting a gift, but it was HUGE!!! Even our birthday presents weren't this big. Imagine our surprise when we unwrapped the packages to find...diapers. I was five at the time, so I cannot recall the emotions of the day. I only remember seeing the huge present. I remember laughing, but not much else.

Recently my younger sister announced the coming of their fourth child by following what is now an official family tradition. I am not sure if my older brother followed this tradition, but a tradition it now is. As you can see in the video, I followed the tradition to announce our new baby to our kids. In case you don't want to watch the 4 minute clip, the highlights are:

• Ben's smile when he finally figured out why our family would need newborn diapers. He is excited to have a little brother (he'll accept a little sister if needed)
• Maddie was completely ticked off because "Diapers are a terrible present!"
• Once Maddie understood we were announcing a little baby, she asked me if I could feel the baby yet. I answered that I couldn't so she decided it might be a large vegetable growing inside me...perhaps a giant broccoli.
• Jacob was super excited to receive a package of diapers. Perhaps he thought this meant that we were postponing the potty training and he could just enjoy life a little longer.
• Jacob decided that we are not going to have a baby, but instead a "yittle fluffly doggie."

I am due in March and we are all very excited.